Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 04/08/2015, uploaded on 08/04/2015

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

No better example of Romantic filigree exists than Chopin’s waltzes, conceived, literally, to be danced in the elegant ballrooms of early nineteenth century Paris. For Chopin, however, filigree was not enough, because he took the waltz to a high art form. True, Chopin’s waltzes—and nocturnes—were the first works to bring him popular success in Paris, but not at the expense of his art. The Op. 42 Waltz, with its aristocratic air, caused Robert Schumann to comment that it should be danced, “only if half the ladies are countesses, at least!” The “danceability” of Chopin’s A Flat Waltz may be questionable, but its excellence as a musical composition is not. It is filled with delicious melody and technical challenges such as the three-quarter waltz rhythm in the left hand and the duple rhythm of the right hand.  While the color of the work is generally bright, that brightness is shot through with unexpected streaks of darkness. In the same manner, its complexity is interrupted by moments of simplicity. It is, at once, both playful and powerful.      Steven Lin

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.